Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recognizing that fuel emissions are a primary source of greenhouse gases and climate change is a problem for us, and recognizing that there is little significant effort right now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, will the Minister of Transportation commit to adopting California fuel emission standards for the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is not an area that we have really developed in the last while. It isn’t really an area that the Government of Canada has done any work on. It is something that we certainly can take a look at, but, Mr. Speaker, we would need the assistance of the federal government to set a national standard. We certainly can engage in some discussion. Other than that, I would say it would be very challenging for us. Thank you.
Thanks, Minister, for those comments. This is a challenging request. It does not require federal participation. Federal participation would be great but, of course, three jurisdictions already have adopted it in Canada including B.C., one of our neighbours. We could certainly draw on them for experience here. I recognize that this Minister is well aware of climate change and working on it in other ways. I look forward to that meeting and the challenge that he has granted.
Moving further, we seem to be going clearly in the way of electric vehicles. We have passed a mutual unanimous motion on the development of the Mackenzie Highway and so on. The Minister stated the other day we are 7 percent annually increasing in transportation. We need to reduce our emissions. I wonder if the Minister could commit to figuring out how we could power electric vehicles or electric plug-ins up and down the Mackenzie Highway. The Minister is well aware this takes some time. Will he commit to begin assessing how we can do that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, that will be certainly a huge undertaking for us to accommodate the supply of power for electric vehicles. It is not an area for which we have done any type of research. I am not sure the department has that kind of capability at this point. I would be glad to undertake to work with the Energy Coordinating Committee to discuss this possibility. I would be pleased to provide a response to the Member. Thank you.
Again, these are challenging issues, but I think we are finding already the world is moving on very quickly. I think this government has also stated fairly plainly that it is going to be progressive on this issue. I don’t think it is actually as big a challenge once we start looking into it. We need some small hydro sources along the Mackenzie Highway that would probably reduce the cost of power as well. If so, once again, will the Minister look into what that is? I would be pleased to offer him my comments on that. Will he have his department and perhaps others look into that possibility? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Member is aware that this government has taken the approach to coordinate our efforts in energy conservation and projects of that nature through one committee. We in the Department of Transportation do not have additional resources to do the exploration or the research and review the options. I certainly can forward the request to the Energy Coordinating Committee to consider this and have them reply to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am well aware of those committees and opportunities out there. Of course, I am working on those as well. I welcome the Minister’s comments on this. Given that transportation is a big source of our emissions, we obviously need to reduce them. What other things is the Minister doing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicular traffic in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we have in the last while worked with a number of initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the North. We have looked at our ferries and the engines and the types of engines that we use to power our ferries and work towards putting more energy-efficient motors in these boats. We are also looking at having a better energy management coordination throughout our department for our vehicles. We have looked at installing, and have installed, heaters in our vehicles so we could reduce the idling time with our larger trucks and heavy equipment. So there are a number of things. We can certainly compile the list for the Member if he is very interested in it. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
